Improvement in machines for sowing plaster



S. WHEELOCK.

Fertilizer.

No. 59.300. I Patented 0ct.- 30, I866.

Witnesses:

Inventor: ggj MAW Mi.-

AM. PNDT'-LITHO. CU- NVY (OSEORNE'S PROCESS.)

UNITED S re-res PATENT OFFICE.

SETH \VIIEELOUK, OF RIGHLAND TOWNSHIP, KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MIOH.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR SOWING PLASTER, 84C.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 59,301), dated October 30, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SETH WHEELooK, of the township of ltichland, in the county of Kalamazoo and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement on a Machine for Sowing Gypsum, Lime, or similar fertilizing material by hand operation; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view. Fig. 2 is a transverse section.

, Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

My invention relates to a simple and inexpensive arrangement of parts, constituting a machine for sowing plaster, lime, or other fertilizing material of like nature, which arrangement adapts it for easy operation by hand and for ready mounting on any ordinary wagonrack frame; and the better to enable others skilled in the manufacture of such implements to construct the same, I will now proceed to describe it.

A represents a long narrow rectangular wooden bed-frame, consisting of two sides and two end girts, which girts may be lapped and screwed to or framed by mortise and tenon into the sides. I secure firmly to the inner edge of eachend girt aplank head, B, in such manner as to project vertically a given height (to be explained hereinafter) above the bedframe.

Two angular grooves are formed in the inner side of each plank head, to receive two side boards of a hopper, H, arranged to form two sidesof a triangle, the upper edge of the head forming the third.

I do not bring the lower edges of the hopper-sides into actual contact with each other, but leave a very narrow space, through which the contents are discharged in manner following: A long wooden feed-bar, D, triangular in cross-section, is inserted (so as to work freely backand forth) in bearings cut through the heads in such relative position that a corner of the bar will just enter the space referred to between the two sides of the hopper. In practice, however, I usually flatten this corner before boring for the spike a teeth d, a sufficient number of which are firmly driven, at regular distances apart, into said bar D, so as to project upward through the space between the hopper-sides into the interior.

L represents a hand-lever operating centrally on a fulcrum -pin, J, by which it is secured to a liningblock, b, which is securely fastened to the side of the hopper. The lower end of the lever is jointed, as seen, to one end of a vibrating connecting-rod, R, which lies transversely across the frame, its

other end being pivoted to the frame, and its middle, or thereabout, to the sliding bar D, a free rectilinear motion being permitted by slotting one of the pivot-holes.

As it is the extent of travel of the bar D which determines the quantity sown at each stroke, I make a series of holes in the side of the bed-frame on each side of the lever, in which gage-pins p are inserted to arrest the motion at any desired points.

As the hopper in my machine is usually about twelve feet long, the sliding feed bar should have at least two intermediate bearings, which may be narrow and so bent, if made of iron, and so connected with the hoppersides, as to furnish mutual support. A partial view of such bearings is seen at e, and at i in Fig. 2 an end view of two iron straps is shown,

with which I generally cover the lower edges of the hopper to resist wear.

The mode of operation is as follows: The machine is placed across the side, (two broken sections of which are shown at F) of any open wagon-frame, or, if snow is on the ground, between a pair of bob-sleds, and there properly secured by bolts or otherwise. The hopper being filled with ground gypsum or other like fertilizer, and the gage -pins placed in the proper holes to regulate the distribution, the operator, standing behind the machine, starts the team in motion, and, guiding it with one hand, with the other he works the lever L and connected feed-bar D back and forth with a regular motion, and as the moving spikes of the bar agitate the plaster, &c., it falls through the narrow spaces in the hopper, and over the angular sides of said bar, from whence it is distributed evenly over the ground in a state of powder, as all lumps that may be in the hopper are effectually broken up by the triturating action of the bar-spikes aforesaid.

adaptability for ready use by hand, in connection with almost any ordinary farm-wagon or sleds. Therefore I do not claim, broadly, a-gitating plaster or other fertilizer in the hopper by a spiked bar moving back and forth for the 'purpose of pnlve-rizing and sowing the same; but,

Having described my invention, what I do claim, and desire to secure as my invention by Letters Patent, is

The arrangement and combination of the triangular spiked bar D and connected lever L with the hopper H and bed -frame A, substantially in the manner and for theuses herein specified.

SETH WHEELOUK.

Witnesses:

BoLLrN WOOD, I). B. MERRILL. 

